Peter and Rebecca Harris: mid-forties denizens of Manhattan’s SoHo, nearing the apogee of committed careers in the arts—he a dealer, she an editor. With a spacious loft, a college-age daughter in Boston, and lively friends, they are admirable, enviable contemporary urbanites with every reason, it seems, to be happy. Then Rebecca’s much younger look-alike brother, Ethan (known in the family as Mizzy, “the mistake”), shows up for a visit. A beautiful, beguiling twenty-three-year-old with a history of drug problems, Mizzy is wayward, at loose ends, looking for direction. And in his presence, Peter finds himself questioning his artists, their work, his career—the entire world he has so carefully constructed.

Like his legendary, Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Hours, Michael Cunningham’s masterly new novel is a heartbreaking look at the way we live now. Full of shocks and aftershocks, it makes us think and feel deeply about the uses and meaning of beauty and the place of love in our lives.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michael Cunningham was raised in Los Angeles and lives in New York City. He is the author of the novels A Home at the End of the World (Picador) and Flesh and Blood. His work has appeared in The New Yorker and Best American Short Stories, and he is the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for The Hours which was a New York Times Bestseller, and was chosen as a Best Book of 1998 by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly. He is a Professor at Brooklyn College for the M.F.A program.

PRAISE AND REVIEWS FOR BY NIGHTFALL:

Jeanette Winterson, The New York Times Book Review:
“[Cunningham] makes you turn the pages. He tells a story here, but not too much a story. You aren’t deadened by detail; you’re eager to know what happens next.”Pam Houston, More:
“In this rueful, daring and expansive novel, Cunningham gives us deep and thrilling access to the mind and heart of a searching, cynical, self-deprecating-except-when-he’s-self-aggrandizing modern male.”Karen Valby, Entertainment Weekly:
“There are sentences here so powerfully precise and beautiful that they almost hover above the page.”Very Short List:
“Beautifully written . . . Cunningham manages to perfectly capture post-9/11 New York City, with keen observations about anxiety, fidelity, aging, the art world and the somewhat impossible pursuit of what we think of as happiness.”Donna Seaman, The Kansas City Star:
“A ravishing and witty tale of yearning and hubris.”Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review):
“The result is an exquisite, slyly witty, warmly philosophical, and urbanely eviscerating tale of the mysteries of beauty and desire, art and delusion, age and love."

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Nancy Connors, The Plain Dealer:“Michael Cunningham’s newest novel, By Nightfall, is a slim book that takes on some big issues: the evolving relationship of long-married couples, the often-fraught bond between parents and their adult children, the duty siblings have to one another. But it also enlarges to consider the role that beauty plays in our lives and the necessarily one-sided nature of our relationship with it. By Nightfall is philosophy masquerading as a story . . . Instead of a novel overflowing with flesh and sweat, rage and craziness, Cunningham has given us a well-considered treatise.”Ellen Kanner, Miami Herald:“Where art and humanity converge and where they part form a double helix in By Nightfall and account for the novel’s most considered and lovely prose. Cunningham’s observations of our desperate search for the real fill and break the heart.”Matthew Gilbert, Boston Globe:“So many of Cunningham’s physical descriptions read like confident prose poems, where you imagine what’s left between the lines . . . As a testament to the richness of the literary imagination, By Nightfall is a success. You can’t read this novel without the sense of how worlds can be found in a drop of water, or in an offhand comment, or in the curve of a vase . . . By Nightfall is a meditation on beauty, and it has its own indelible qualities of beauty.”

GIVEAWAY

I, MYSELF, HAVE ONE BRAND NEW

COPY OF THIS FASCINATING AUDIO BOOK TO GIVE AWAY!

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY

--NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE--INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS IN COMMENT --ALL ENTRIES/COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE IN ORDER TO COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT BY NIGHTFALL ABOVE THAT WOULD MAKE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS AUDIO BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE OF THE REVIEWS OR PRAISES ABOVE THAT INTERESTS YOU THE MOST. JUST NAME THE REVIEWER OR SOURCE

+1 MORE ENTRY:BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND LEAVE A LINK I CAN FOLLOW IN THE ENTRY

+1 MORE ENTRY:COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING ON MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM'S WEBSITE HERE. PERHAPS YOU MIGHT COMMENT ON ANOTHER BOOK OF HIS YOU HAVE READ, OR WOULD LIKE TO READ

I found several things that tweaked my interest in this audio book. His awards mentioned in this review are outstanding credits for an accomplished author and while that alone wouldn’t cause me to listen to this audio book it does peak my interest in his writing style. The one comment that stated: “Full of shocks and aftershocks, it makes us think and feel deeply about the uses and meaning of beauty and the place of love in our lives.” That sentence really quenched it for me.

I also found Pam Houston comment to be interesting when she stated that this is an “expansive novel.” The first thing that came to my mind that this novel was large … meaning many pages. The definition of a novel is one that is usually one of 40,000 words or more, but when I did some research this book is a mere 256 pages unlike books like “Freedom” by Johnathan Franzen with 576 pages or “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” by David Wroblewski with also 576 pages. I would guess that Pam Houston in her use of the word “expansive” meant the core story of this book. This review by Pam Houston tweaked my interest in this book. BTW – “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” is one of my all time favorite novels. Maybe Michael Cunningham’s “By Nightfall” will also become a favorite of mine.

What really peaked my interest is when Jeanette Winterson said, "...you're eager to know what happens next." These are the words I am looking for! I'm constantly in search of the next book that I can't put down. It seems I've been getting stuck lately on books I like, but aren't page turners and they take me a long time to get through. The storyline sounds interesting enough and if it really is a "page turner" then I bet I would love it!

'Land's End, A Walk in Provincetown' is the one that I would pick. I have been to Provincetown and will never forget it. I want to go back but before I do, I would read or listen to his out of theordinary travel guide. There a few towns that have a distinct atmosphere. This is one of them, it is full of layers of history, (Portguese and English ancestors), art, movie festivals, crafts and you name it. This is the place for people who love all that and each other.

Since this is just after Thanksgiving, the book reflects familial relationships--adult children, siblings etc and holidays definitely stress those relationships. I want to read/hear how the family relationships evolve in By Nightfall.LeAnnsunshine9ATimonmailDOTcom

Thanks for another great giveaway! I'm intrigued to learn how a successful, respected and "enviable" older individual's world can be thrown into turmoil by a person younger than them who has no direction in their life.

I think the comment by Nancy Connors piqued my interest the most about this book when she described it as "...the evolving relationship of long-married couples, the often-fraught bond between parents and their adult children, the duty siblings have to one another." In other words, a story about every day life.